Prediction time! Cube takes the role of Mystic Meg for N-Europe as this year's E3 approaches...

This year, I've taken it upon myself to make the staff predictions for this year's E3. I've made 15 predictions, put into 3 categories of varying difficulty. Have a look to see what I think this year's E3 has in store for Wii.

Almost Certainly

1. Kirby Wii Kirby's Adventure on the Wii will finally be revealed in it's Wii form. The game was first announced on GameCube. It is a 3D side-scrolling 2D platformer, and used the Smash Bros Melee engine, so this will likely be updated to the Brawl engine. The game will likely use the Wii Remote on it's side and make use of the waggle for special moves. The game also includes a 4-player adventure.

2. Red Steel 2 Red Steel 2 will be confirmed. Ubisoft will promise to enhance upon Red Steel in every way, in particular the sword fighting and multiplayer. Sword fighting will likely be massively overhauled from the Red Steel system, perhaps even with a range of different swords, and the shooting controls will be fine-tuned. Multiplayer will have more modes, many more playable characters and a larger choice of weapons. It will also feature an online mode - The phone game from the original will get the praise it deserves thanks to online.

3. Mario Kart Wii Mario Kart Wii will be announced. OK, so this prediction is a bit unfair, as N-Europe have been told that it will be there, but I predict that it will have both online and LAN multiplayer modes, as well as the usual Mario Kart stuff. The mission mode from Mario Kart DS will either return or be expanded. The game will be announced for 2007 in Europe.

4. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption & BWii Big, solid facts about Metroid Prime 3. Exact details on the visors, controls, beam-stacking system, navigating to different planets and the phazon corruption will be told, and the "online" rumours will be officially crushed. The press will get their hands-on a near-final version of the game. The same will also happen for Battalion Wars 2, and the truth behind the "Constant Mii Codes or Not?" thing will surface.

5. Lightsabre Wii LucasArts will finally confirm it's Wii Lightsabre game, as well as provide us with a name, basic details and a video teaser trailer for it (which will likely involve 2 people with fighting using remotes with Lightsabre beams popping out the top of them).

Likely

1. WiiWare Comeback An old franchise will be revealed as Wii Software. Nintendo has told us to expect Original Downloadable Games from them in 2008. We predict that an old franchise will make a return thanks to this. Possibly something like Mach Rider or Baloon Fighter, more likely the former. We can say that is almost certainly won't be anything like Kid Icarus.

2. Brain Training & Nintenpets Nintendo will announce Wii versions of popular DS titles such as Brain Training and Nintendogs. Brain Training will likely use Miis as profiles, and the soduku will probably make use of Remote gestures. Some of the minigames will probably make use of the speaker, and microphone bases minigames will be replaced (obviously). Nintendogs could see the unlikely expansion onto Nintenpets (or perhaps Wii Pets) to separate it from the DS game.

3. Sonic In Brawl Sonic will finally be revealed for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Various people from both Nintendo and Sega have said that they want Sonic on Brawl, and Sonic's supposedly "stronger" stance on Nintendo platforms, as well as the announcement of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, it would be a surprise if it didn't happen. It's more a case of when now. We predict that the fanboy-wetting announcement will be made at E3.

4. "Big 5" Capcom Sequel Capcom will announce a sequel to one of their GameCube "Big Five" for Wii, or even resurrect Dead Phoenix. It won't be Resident Evil 5 and Killer7's designer is now working on the non-Capcom title No More Heroes, so it may be a sequel to or another instalment in the Viewtiful Joe series.

5. Returning Franchise Nintendo will announce one, and only one, new game based on an existing franchise (Kirby and Animal Crossing have already been announced) bar the one's we've already mentioned.. This could be anything such as Star Fox, Pilotwings, Pikmin, F-Zero, etc.

Downright Stupid

1. GTA Wii Take Two/Rockstar will announce a GTA Compilation for the Wii. It will take the 3 3D titles, add Wii Remote controls (in a similar style to Scarface: The World Is Yours) and bung it in one box. GTA3 will have improved graphics in the form of fixing problems with fog and pop-up, and each game will include a few extra vehicles.

2. MiniWii HDD Nintendo will announce an official Harddrive. The Harddrive will be USB powered and will be held in a white case similar in shape to the Wii - just smaller. It will also include it's own Wii-style stand. They'll also call it something daft like "Mini Wii HDD 80GB". You heard it here first.

3. DS Demo Channel Nintendo will surprise us all by making a demo-channel available during E3. Unfortunately, due to memory restictions, this will only cover DS demos, but it will give us all access to all the DS demos that the press at E3 have access to.

4. Monkey Island Wii LucasArts will reveal either a new Monkey Island for the Wii, or a complitation of all 4. It will include the usual point & click stuff, as well as some Remote-specific puzzles. Perhaps the first few may be remade in the visual style of 3 & 4 (with the originals also available). But do LucasArts have that much sense to make it?

5. Sadness We will see in-game footage or perhaps even a demo of Sadness. Then again, perhaps not.

So there we have it - we will see how well my prediction skills are over the next few days.